ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove Funks it Up March 1

ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove, a modernized version of the 1991 Sega Genesis game, has released a new trailer with a new release date. Gamers will be able to play as the titular funky aliens when the game releases March 1.

A bit earlier this week, the official Twitter page for ToeJam & Earl and developer Humanature Studios said that we’d be getting a new trailer and official release date on December 9. However, it looks like they were ready to give us the big news a bit early. The game has had a couple of delays since it received about $500,000 in a successful Kickstarter, but this one looks like it might be the real deal.

ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove is based on the first ToeJam & Earl game, which released back in 1991 for the Sega Genesis. The game featured the two titular aliens crash-landing on Earth and having to recover their ship parts while avoiding a variety of strange Earthlings, such as hula dancers, mailbox boogeymen, and army chickens with tomato mortars. It got a 1993 sequel, ToeJam and Earl in Panic on Funkotron, which replaced the mildly rogue-like top-down perspective with a more traditional side-scrolling platforming game. There was a third game for the Xbox in 2003, but that one wasn’t as good as the others and marked the last game in the series. Until now.

In addition, the Kickstarter update that announced the game’s official release has a special announcement for backers. Kickstarter backers will soon have the opportunity to participate in a new round of surveys, which will give PC/Mac players the opportunity to swap their PC/Mac copy to a console version for an additional $5 in case their preferences have changed since the original Kickstarter campaign five years ago.

ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove will release March 1, 2019 for all platforms and Steam. It can currently be pre-ordered on the PS4 from the PlayStation Store, and can also be put on a Steam wishlist.